Thrills To Spare

Phoebe awoke the next morning to small hands on her cheeks, patting them softly as a tiny knee came in contact with her side gently.

“Mama.” She slowly opened her eyes to see Dylan’s face mere centimeters from hers, a big smile spread across his precious face. “Hi!” He cheered cutely as Jordan stood in the doorway of the bedroom, holding Chloe to his bare chest as he walked further into the room.

“Good morning, handsome.” Phoebe smiled, cradling her first born into her chest, loving the way he’d nuzzle into her neck just like his father would.

“Breakfast.” He mumbled softly, putting his tiny fingers into her hair, playing with the soft wisps gently.

“Baby, Grandma and Grandpa are making you breakfast, go tell Daddy to take you downstairs.” She kissed his baby-soft cheeks.

“Daddy.” He huffed, furrowing his tiny, white-blonde eyebrows at Jordan as if he was rather offended.

“Sorry big man, I’m on it.” Jordan laughed, scooping up his son to bring his two babies downstairs in order for the grandparents to smother them. It wasn’t long until Jordan was back in the bedroom. It was their last day visiting family and he still had to convince Phoebe to see things his way regarding their next baby. He knew her eyes were on his body as he sauntered over to the bed, his powerful legs moving gracefully beneath him as he slid into the bed. “Good morning my beautiful wife.” He pulled her into his bare chest.

“Hey baby.” She blushed gently as he kissed her just behind her ear, pushing his hips into her gently in order for her to feel his slowly hardening arousal.

“Baby time.” He whispered huskily into her ear, running one his hands up and down her side.

“Jordan.” She shook her head, pushing his wrist as he attempted to sneak his hand down the waistband of her basketball shorts.

“Pheobe.” He whined, holding out the e’s in her name.

“Jordan. We talked, and we agreed, later, when Chloe is two.” She insisted since he had essentially been trying to mount her every ten minutes since she agreed to one more Staal.

“See, you want to wait until Chloe is two, but I think the new baby should be born around then.” Jordan demanded softly, sitting up in bed and crossing his legs under him, hunching over with a rather pathetic face. “Marc, Jared, and I were all born within two years of each other, and I really think it makes a difference.”

“I’m just not ready to be pregnant again right now.” Phoebe leaned up to kiss his pouted lips.

“How about this.” He said, putting a finger up in the air, closing his eyes for a moment to collect his thoughts. “How about… we just stop using pills and condoms and rings and all of that, and if it happens, it happens.” He suggested, his eyes big and wide with hope.

Phoebe considered it for a moment before caving again, something she often did around Jordan.

“Fine.” She nodded. A big smile spread across his face before he could take a passionate nosedive into her cleavage, chuckling happily before kissing his way up her neck to her lips. “But I’m still not fucking you at your parents house.” She laughed as his forehead dropped onto hers with a frown.

“I’m gonna go take a shower.” He replied rather lamely before dragging himself off of his wife to head into the shower. Phoebe giggled violently at her own cleverness before getting out of bed as well, changing into a pair of jeans, a solid green t-shirt, and tossing her hair up into a ponytail.

Making the bed again, Phoebe paused, walking into the bathroom discreetly, thankful for the navy blue shower curtain as she removed Jordan’s clothes and any nearby towel, bringing them into the bedroom with a smirk. When she heard the shower from his quick rinse shut off, she bit her lip, waiting for a reaction.

“Phoebe.” She could hear a playful laughter in his voice as he peeked his head out from behind the door pane. “You little shit.” He laughed before strutting out into the bedroom, not ashamed as his wife eyed him up graciously.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, baby.” She smiled innocently, batting her lashes as she fixed a pillowcase before placing it back down on the bed. She laughed loudly as Jordan rubbed over his crotch with one of her t-shirts from the laundry hamper with zero abandon. “Jerk.” She shook her head.

“If we weren’t at my parents and you weren’t being such a little prude, I would punish you good.” He winked, making Phoebe roll her eyes.

“Yeah well, let this build until we get home, then you can make good on that promise.” Phoebe suggested with a slick grin, watching as the back of Jordan’s neck turned bright pink before pulling on a pair of clean boxers from his drawers.

“Keep tempting me and you won’t care where we are.” He warned, looking at her through his white-blond lashes and pointing a thick finger in her direction.

Phoebe giggled and shook her head for the umpteenth time before making her way to the doorway. Jordan eyed her, narrowing his baby blues in anticipation of when they would finally head back to Pittsburgh.

•••

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Jordan rushed as he set Chloe in her carrier right inside the door of Sidney and Kara’s home further out in the suburbs of Pittsburgh.

“Yeah, no problem, you in a hurry?” Sidney asked, cradling Dylan on his hip as the toddler took quite quickly to playing with the thin gold chain around Sidney’s neck.

“Something like that.” Jordan nodded as Kara entered the room, swinging Chloe up into her arms with a smile.

“Hey Jord.” She greeted happily. “Hey baby girl.” She smiled, letting Chloe’s tiny fingers wrap around her own with a gummy smile.

“Hate to ditch, but this is a serious manner.” Jordan smiled sheepishly, feeling slightly bad for not seeing his good friends for a week, dumping his kids on them, and then leaving as soon as possible.

“It’s all good, I understand.” Sidney winked, giving him a curt wave before Jordan could take off back down the walkway to the drive, hopping in his car to head back home where Phoebe was waiting patiently.

When he finally arrived back home, a quick ten-minute drive later, he could hear Phoebe moving around upstairs in the bedroom. He haphazardly kicked off his shoes, not caring that they flung against the wall, leaving scrapes he’d have to clean off later with a Mr. Clean magic eraser.

Boudning up the stairs by two, swinging his arms as if he were in conditioning, he arrived at his doorway out of breath. Phoebe was sitting on the bed, her legs crossed as she fiddled with her cell phone.

“Hey baby.” He grinned, sliding on down beside her with the worst shit-eating grin on his face.

“Hi.” She responded quickly, tilting the view of her cell phone away from him as she clicked away at the small buttons.

“You look tense.” He cooed, sliding his hand across the back of her shoulders. “Why don’t you let me give you a little rub down?” He asked innocently.

“Heather called.” Phoebe spoke casually with a cold edge, not watching as Jordan’s face screwed in confusion.

“Heather?” He asked, tilting his head, making Phoebe roll her eyes.

“Yes, she wants to do lunch with you tomorrow.” She said, standing up and walking over to their closet. She didn’t bother to close the door before stripping down and pulling on a pair of pajamas, knowing Jordan would be watching.

“Is that why you’re acting like this? Because Heather called and she wants to go out to lunch?” He asked, leaning over and resting his forearms on his legs.

“Baby, how about you go give that voicemail a listen for yourself?” She asked with a sugary smile that Jordan knew was meant to be anything but sweet. He swallowed hard, sulking his way down the stairs as he held the railing in one hand and the other jittered nervously.

When he finally reached the black-box, he had second thoughts but pushed play nonetheless.

You have one new message, new message: “Hey Jord, it’s Heather, just giving you a call to hammer out those lunch plans we talked about, send me a text or something! Can’t wait to see you! Bye sweetheart!”

Jordan exhaled deeply, letting his face crease up into thick worry lines as he rubbed his temples with the his finger tips, knowing he was going to be in deep shit for this one and would most definitely not be getting laid tonight. He also wished that the kids were still here, seeing as they made a good diversion for when Phoebe’s temper got all sorts of ugly.

He slowly walked back up the stairs, looking anywhere but at Phoebe as she sat at her vanity, removing her makeup and brushing out her hair.

“Baby, I-”

“Don’t baby me, Jordan Lee Staal.” Phoebe countered quicky.

“Phoeb, I don’t see why you’re getting so worked up about this! She just wants to meet and have lunch, history or not, we were together for a while and there’s not shame in catching up with old friends.” He began, knowing it was a weak argument.

“Okay then baby, I’ll make sure to text and talk to some of my ex-boyfriends behind your back, not tell you, and then have them call our home to make plans for us to meet up.” She said with a casual shrug, knowing it was enough to make Jordan’s blood boil.

And it was. If there was one perfect word to describe Jordan other than devastatingly handsome and fiercely loyal, it was possessive. He got flustered and his eyebrows would set in a rather displeased line at the slightest hint of another man looking at his wife.

“Look, I’m sorry, I know I made a mistake but I think you’re making a big deal out of nothing.” He sighed, knowing that he had already said the wrong thing. The only appropriate thing for Jordan to do now was apologize profusely and hope that he could still sleep in the bed that night.

“How long have you been talking to her?” Phoebe asked, genuinely interested, crossing her legs and looking up at him through the mirror seeing as she was sitting with her back to him.

“I don’t know, it started last week?” He asked more than stated.

“Oh good, you were talking to your ex all during your family vacation, charming.” She nodded, getting up and crossing the room to the bathroom, closing the door and letting Jordan hear the distinct ‘click’ of the lock on the door handle.

“Phoeb, come on, can we please just talk about this? Do you honestly, truly think I’m going to go meet Heather for lunch then take off with her?” He asked, sighing as he leant against the wall beside the door.

“Well, with your track record, I don’t know what to think.” She said in that same passive-aggressive tone that she know would eat away at Jordan who much preferred for her to yell and scream than keep so calm.

“What is that supposed to mean?!” He asked before his mouth dropped open, that familiar blue vein in his neck making an appearance as it always did when he was angry enough.

“Jord, you know I love you and I would go the end of the earth for you, but before you settled down, you were a womanizing slut and we all know it.” She said, laying down the law as he huffed childishly, folding his big arms over his chest, his mouth set in a thick pout. “And Heather is an evil slut, another fact we are all aware of.”

“So you think I’m going to go meet Heather for lunch, she’s gonna rock my world and tell me how great it’ll be to ditch my wife and kids so I’ll see the light and run away with her? What a great husband and father you must think I am.” He snarled.

Phoebe sighed, walking over to her husband and placing her soft hands on his tense arms, watching as they dropped from his body before she could then rest her hands on his chest.

“You know I think that you’re an incredible husband and father, I just don’t trust her.” She spoke gently, “and whether you agree or not, it makes me sad to think that you’ve been talking to her all this time and didn’t even bother to give me a heads up. We both know that she called our house instead of your phone to get at me.” She finished.

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, I honestly, truly thought it wasn’t a big deal and that’s why I didn’t say something to you.” He replied in just as quiet of a tone. “You know I would never jeopardize what we have on purpose. I would never do anything to lose your or our babies.” He spoke quietly, his blue eyes sad and sincere.

Phoebe nodded gently before stretching up on her tiptoes to kiss his lips gently.

“Can we please just go to bed now?” He asked, knowing his chances of getting laid tonight were thrown completely out the window.

“Oh honey, I accepted your apology, but your ass is still sleeping on the couch.”